Practical Poultry 




And How to Dress Fowl 



See C C Smith, Practical Poultry Demonstrator, Dress 
a Fowl in Eight Seconds. Learn How Yourself. 



PRICE ONE DOLLAR 



Copyright 1917 by 

C. C. Smith, Wilton, N. H. 

(All violations will be prosecuted,) 



Practical Poultry 




And How to Dress Fowl 



See C. C. Smith, Practical Poultry Demonstrator* Dress 
a Fowl in Eight Seconds. Learn How Yourself. 



PRICE ONE DOLLAR 



Copyright 1917 by 

C. C. Smith, Wilton. N. H. 

(All viohrttons will be prosecvited,) 



^^ 



A 






PREFACE 



The purpose of this hook is to further the instruc- 
tions and to give those points that time will not permit 
in m\ demonstrations. Therefore the book will not con- 
tain a lot of theoretical thoughts, but will only deal 
with accomplished facts Ijy the writer. 

Be sure when reading poultry literature that it is 
written by a practical man and not by one of our imagin- 
ary dreamers, of whom we have so many in the various 
branches of the poultry industry. 

A certain amount of theory must be known in any 
form of business but theory alone will not enable you to 
put the knowledge to a practical use. You must also 
have a practical knowledge of that which you are doing. 
Therefore, what is the use of knowing anything if you 
do not practice it ? 

The same applies to this book. Don't miss anything 
and neglect notiiing. 

A jx)ultryman"s work is never finished ; he can only 
find a place to leave off until tomorrow ; he is btit the jun-. 
ior member of the firm, the hen being "boss." As soon 
as you stop working for your poultry, just so soon will 
they stop working for you. But when you take up your 
task again will they respond so promptly ? No : and per- 
kaps never. For during such periods of neglect is the 
breeding season of vermin and disease. 




CI.A476267 



^EP 27 1317 



Marketing Products From Producer to Consumcf 

There has been consideral^le inducement and influence 
used of late years, through different editorials, trying to 
get the poultry producer to sell direct to the consumer, 
therefore doing away with the middle-man's profit. This 
is a great mistake and misleads a lot of people, as you 
are not doing away with the middleman's profit even 
though selling direct tp consumer, for in most cases you 
are doing away with at least three men's profit, and at 
the extra expense of the one who is obliged to make the 
most profit (the retail dealer). When shipping your 
poultry into the market it is usually first sold by the 5 
per cent commission house to the jobber ; from the job- 
ber to the retail dealer and lastly from retail dealer to 
consumer. Therefore hi order to make a profitable 
business from producer to consumer you are obliged to 
make considerable difference between your wholesale 
and retail price, as )0U are at a greater exj^ense than 
either of any one of the men previously mentioned, ow- 
ing to your facilities of serving the public and time and 
extra expense rec[uired. For instance, a man in my vi- 
cinity who believes in getting every cent possible out of 
his products, brings his broilers down to my slaughter 
house to have them killed and picked. For small orders 
I charge 15c per head for getting them ready to cook. 
The above'^ mentioned party brought me four broilers 
to be dressed for one of his customers for which he was 
to receive 35c per lb. dressed. These broilers when 
dressed weighed 8 pounds ; at 35c per 11).. $2.80. At that 
time I was paying 2^c per lb. for live broilers, in any 
quantitv. large or small lots. 

His' four broilers when alive weighed 9 lbs. and at 
23c per lb. would have l^rought him $2.07 without any 
other time or expense. His added expense by delivering 
to consumer is as follows : 

Dressing four broilers, at 15c 60c 

Parcel post rates i6c 

As to the expense of parcel post boxes used for shipping 
these broilers I do not know. Total cash expense to my 
knowledge l^eing /6c, or a loss of 3c had he sold 
them to me in the first place at 23c per lb. live weight. 
Should he have dressed them himself, he would have 



saved my work which amounted to 6oc. l)Ut would have 
likely consumed two more hours of his time (perhaps 
worth something and perhaps not. ) 

Another instance : A friend of mine living in a city 
near Boston buys guaranteed fresh henerv eggs of a 
local producer, who lives just outside of the citv limits ; 
eggs delivered to his door in one or five dozen lots, as he 
wishes, for two to four cents per dozen less than the best 
wholesale houses in Boston were paying for the same 
grade eggs in any quantity. Now this lady imagines 
she is accomplishing great things as she has all the trade 
she can handle selling from producer direct to consumer. 
It requires one day's labor a week to lose two to four 
cents per dozen on her eggs. 

In my demonstration work I meet people at most 
every place I go who are doing just as well as the two 
parties mentioned. Then again I meet people most ev- 
ery place I go who are doing well with their producer to 
consumer trade, and some are doing exceptionally well. 
Before looking for a retail trade from producer direct to 
consumer, keep posted on the market so that you may 
know what your products are worth. Take account of 
all expenses and time required in serving the public with 
your products, and find out what you are ol)liged to get 
in return to make your producer to consumer business 
profitable over the regular wholesale market price. Run 
your business yourself, do not let the customer run it 
for you. Better lose that customer than to loose time 
and money on him. A good customer realizes when he 
is being used well and will appreciate it. Always do 
your best to please him and give him loo cents worth for 
every dollar. Under such conditions and such only 
have I seen from producer direct to consumer succeed. 



Preparing Poultry for Market Purposes 

Never feed poultry on the day of killing ; keep fresh, 
clean drinking water before them at all times. Should 
the poultry obtain food in any way so that they would 
have food in their crop when dressed, open the crop by 
making slit on the upper part of the neck just forward 
of the wing. By shoving the crop to this place you will 
notice the skin is very thin at this point. Force the food 
stuff out from the under side of the crop. Any food re- 
tained in the crop after death will soon sour and ferment 
eausing a gas with a very bad odor which passes through 




Figure 1. 




Figure lA, 





Figure 2A. 



the flesh giving it a strong taste. Poultry, eggs and but- 
ter are very susceptible to bad odor. 

In preparing poultry for market purposes there are 
numerous persons who claim they have the proper meth- 
od. But results obtained is the only proof for any man's 
method being the proper one. I have been in a number 
of picking contests, meeting all comers, not only locally, 
but in various states throughout the Union, and have to 
the present time defeated all competitors, including a con- 
test staged for the Pathe's Weekly Film Corporation be- 
tween Mr. Moses Bruce of Boston and myself, in which 
I defeated him. At the same time I also dressed a fowl 
in eight seconds by three official time keepers with stop 
watches. Up to the present date Pathe's Weekly nor I 
have heard of any man who has come anywhere near to 
the record I made with them, excepting that on a few oc- 
casions I myself have duplicated the record. Therefore 
by results obtained I claim my method to be the best. In 
securing this method 1 have worked in a number of the 
leading slaughter houses throughout the United States, 
and seldom found two who used the same method in kill- 
ing and dressing poultry. And rarely will you find a 
slaughter house which will allow you to use your own 
method or the method you may be accustomed to. There- 
fore in travelling from place to place one is obliged to 
learn different methods. In putting my method together 
I selected those different parts from the various places 
I worked which would accomplish most with the least 
possible movements, in this way saving time and extra 
motion. In using a method, no matter which one it may 
be, always use the same routine, and do your work thor- 
oughly as you go. 

Preparations for Dressing Poultry 

First, a good sharp sticking knife with a blade about 
three inches in length, narrow and tapering to a sharp 
point, straight on back of knife with the cutting edge 
rounded, and of very good steel, as the blade is obliged 
to be very narrow. Owing to the small cavity the knife 
must pass through to the brain, should it be a wide blade, 
it would fracture the skull before reaching the brain, 
therefore causing pain and contraction of the muscles, 
wHiich will be referred to later. Second, a rope to hang 
the fowl on while picking. Third, an empty barrel to 
catch the body feathers in, should you want to save the 
feathers, (colored feathers are worth, about 4c per lb. 



and straight white about 15c per lb. on the wholesale 
market). Fourth, a barrel about half full of water at 
about the temperature of ordinary spring or city water, 
to throw the fowl into directly after picking, for the 
purpose of soaking out tb.e animal heat before putting 
into ice water. Should you put them into ice water im- 
mediately after killing the extreme cold would not allow 
the animal heat to escape properly, causing the fowl to 
be dark and purple when cooled out. 



Killing Poultry 

Take the fowl l)y the thighs in the right hand, by the 
wings in the left hand. Strike its head against some 
solid ol)ject to stun it for an instant, so as not to feel the 
pain of the knife while sticking. First insertion of the 
knife is for l^leeding. the second for braining. Fowl, the 
same as any living being, has two sections to the brain, 
nerve and mental cells, the nerve cell lying at the base 
of the skull, shown directly under the thumb in Fig. 2 a. 

Piercing the nerve cell of the brain causes the nerves 
and muscles to relax, which in turn loosens the feathers. 
The feathers remain loosened until through loss of blood 
the reaction of the muscles again tighten the feathers. 
Therefore the quicker one can })ick a chicken after it is 
stuck the easier it is done. As to any doubt of the bird 
suffering in this manner of killing, it has been proven by 
specialists in Boston, sent around 1)y different societies 
to find (jut whether we were killing the poultry properly, 
after analyzing the heart and lungs, that the bird did not 
suffer. And after analyzing the brain they found that 
the bird could not suffer as the brain was paralyzed. 

Fig. I a siiows proper location for bleeding. With 
the sharp edge of the knife next to the l)one of the neck 
as location of knife is shown in Fig. la, where the main 
artery branches to either side of the head, shoving the 
knife all the way through to give air crculation to carry 
off the flow of blood. Fig. i shows position for holding 
bird while sticking. 

Fig. 2a shows proper location for braining. Insert 
the knife just below the corner of the eye and run back 
to the center of the back of the head, directly under 
where thumb is shown in Fig. 2a ; at the same time giv- 
ing a slight twist. In this course the knife trave'ls 
through a narrow passage in which the nerve cell of the 
eye travels to the brain. Fig. 2 shows proper position for 
holding bird while liraining. 

6 



As soon as the Inrd has been stuck commence picking 
as you will see in Fig. 3, holding the bird by the wings 
in the left hand, grasping the tail in your right hand, a 
slight twist with a light pull will remove the tail feath- 
ers. Next, as you will see in Fig. 4, running your hand 
up through the feathers on back, grasping hold and a 
slight jerk backward removes the back feathers. Next, 
as you will see in Fig. 5, stripping the thighs. By 
catching thigh in hand and shoving upward, draw down, 
allowing the flesh to pull through your hand Init holding 
onto the feathers. Repeat same on other side, remove? 
feathers from the thighs. The fluff, as you will see in 
Fig. 6. Running your hand through the feathers for- 
ward grasp feathers and draw back, removes the flufif. 
Fig 7, hanging fowl on rope to complete picking. This 
method of hanging is devised to save time and is the 
most secure one. It consists of a piece of window cord 
swung from the ceiling with a wooden button attaclied 
to the lower end. This 1)utton is made of wood circular 
in form, about 2 inches in diameter and V4. inch thick 
with a hole in the center just large enough for the win- 
dow cord to pass through, and the tie knot, on the lowcu 
end of rope to keep from slipping through button. Place 
fowl's shanks, as shown, against rope about three inches 
above button, rope on opposite side of shanks from you ; 
bring rope up and over shanks ; drop button down be- 
tween feet and rope. Allow bird to hang head down and 
it will l)e secure. From here all remaining feathers are 
removed toward the head. Grasping the l)reast feathers 
in your hand, give a slight twist and pull forward. Strip 
neck feathers with thuml) and four lingers extended 
around the neck ; pull downward. For the wings, as you 
will see in Fig. 8, grasp the wings with the back of your 
hand toward you; give slight twist and quick jerk back, 
removing quill feathers. For stripping wings, as you 
will see in Fig. 9, extend forefinger around butt of wing, 
holding Ijody with other hand ; strip toward you alter- 
nating" the movement with either hand until wing is 
stripped. Repeat same on other wing. Should the fowl 
have pin feathers the longer ones may be removed by 
brushing lightly with the hand; the shorter ones require 
a pinning knife, which should have a rather wide but 
thin blade, not sharp but very durable. Starting at the 
t®p of the shanks with the bird still hanging by the feet 
pin downward, taking everything clean as you go until 
you come to the wings. Then take the wing in your left 



hand with back toward you. Start pinning at tip and pin 
cleanly to the body. Then fold the wings as you will 
see in Fig. lo and pin the neck down to the head as you 
will also see in Fig. lo. The bird is now ready for the 
first cooling water in which it may ])e left for an hour or 
for a half day as the case may be. so long as you have 
enough water in the barrel to keep your fowl covered at 
all times. When taken out of this l)arrel, place in an 
empty barrel or hogshead as to quantity dressed, pour 
just enough water on to cover poultry. Then put on a 
large piece of ice, if to be kept over night. Cover ice 
over with several layer? of burlap to hold the cold in 
and keep the air out. The following morning you will 
find that your poultry is just as cold in the bottom of 
the barrel as it is just under the ice. Should there be no 
water in this iced poultry the cold would not travel down 
enough to cool out the poultry in the bottom of the bar- 
rel, therefore the poultry would heat and turn green. 

For shipping dressed poultry a barrel, such as flour 
and sugar barrels, make most desirable containers. Re- 
moving the top hoop place a piece of paper in the bottom 
pf the barrel lining the sides by using strips of wrapping 
paper with one end down to bottom of barrel and the 
other end extending up and lapping over top of barrel 
for a few inches. After lining the barrel all the way 
around in this manner place the hoop back over top. of 
barrel and edges of paper. This will hold the lining in 
position while packing. Give yourself plenty of time 
to pack for shipping. Take your poultry out of cooling 
barrel and place on some desirable object to drain. For 
packing set the poultry down in bottom of barrel with 
back outward and feet toward the center, packing them 
side by side all the way around, after which fill in the 
center in the same manner. Start another layer and fill 
out likewise, and continue until barrel is about level full, 
after which place a piece of ice, about twenty or thirty 
pounds, on top of poultry. Lift up your top hoop, place 
some wrapping paper over the ice and a piece of burlap 
over that, allowing it to extend over the edge of barrel 
all the way round. Place hoop over burlap and hammer 
it to its regular position on barrel, nailing it firmly in 
place. Trim off burlap to about two inches to hoop, so 
that it will be neat but not pull through. 

Place your invoice of the net weight and number of 
head and description of poultry, whether fowl, roasting 
chickens, or whatever it may be, on back of shipping tag 




Fiiriire ?•, 




FiL'Uie 4. 



which is to be tacked on side of barrel, just below the 
second hoop, and keepings a copy of the invoice yourself. 
When this shipment of poultry arrives at the wholesale 
house, before it is even opened, the shipping tag is re- 
moved from the barrel to see if the invoice is on the 
back. Poultry cooled and packed in this manner will 
keep from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, depending 
on conditions of heat. When this barrel of poultry ar- 
rives at the commission or wholesale house the merchant 
at once knows that it has been properly picked, cooled 
and packed, arid by seeing the invoice on the back of your 
shipping tag realizes immediately that you are a practi- 
cal poultryman. He can rely on your goods and wants 
to hold you for a regular shipper, and will therefore do 
all in his power to give you the best of results. 



Forced Feeding of Poultry 

In regard to forced feeding I have noticed articles 
of various sorts. For instance in one article in a well 
known poultry journal that various slaughter houses in 
Boston were making several hundred thousand dollars 
annually on fattening up half fed poultry that came from 
the farm to their establishments. This I know to be ab- 
solutely false in every word, for I have worked in most 
every slaughter house in Boston and am well acquainted 
with their customs. And there was not one place in Bos- 
ton that was doing this business successfully. Thev had 
most all tried it at various times and found it not to be 
profitable. At the time of the writing of the above arti- 
cle there was but one slaughter house in Boston that was 
trying forced feeding and that was their second season. 
The first season was a complete failure. While the sec- 
ond was giving some better results, it had not yet been 
found profitable. That was one of the imaginary dreams 
previously mentioned. Forced feeding should be done at 
home to be made profitable, for there only a man knows 
the conditions and customs of his poultry. Only the 
strong and healthy birds can be forced-fed profitably. 
In selecting birds to be forced fed, select strong and 
healthy and vigorous birds, those growing nearest to 
standard of the'ir respective breed in type and develop- 
ment. Using a standard breed enables one to tell wheth- 
er or not the poultry is strong and healthy if it shows 
proper development and rapid growth. The following 
is one of the experiments of mine with which I have had 



best results, considering- cost of food consumed and 
amount of grain : 

Fiftv-three broilers, live weight, 813^2 lbs., at 28c per 
lb. were worth $22.82 on July 5. At time of killing, July 
16, 53 broilers, live weight, 116 lbs., at 26c per lb. amount 
to $30.86. Dressed and shipped to market I received re- 
turns for 104 lbs. at 38c per lb., or $39.52, less express of 
84c; net $38.68. Total gain, not including labor, $12.71. 
Owing to the routine of labor it would be difficult to give 
accurate figures. The consumption of food and cost of 
same were as follows: 105 quarts of milk at i^^c. $1,575- 
105 lbs. drv bread at ly^c. $i.S7S- Total cost of f^ed 

In the above forced feeding I used slatted coops, slat- 
ted all the way around, and slatted bottoms, left set in 
the open under a shade tree with drop boards under 
coops which were scraped ofif once a day, and feed pre- 
pared in advance at all times consisting of equal parts of 
sour milk and dry bread, one pound of bread to one quart 
of milk. Fed at intervals four times a day. First three 
feeds to be what they will clean uj) in about 5 minutes' 
time and the last to be all they will eat till going to roost. 
Fed in troughs outside the coops, and kept fresh, clean 
water l)efore them all the time. The amount of gains in 
profit would naturally vary at dififerent parts of the sea- 
son, as the price of poultry reduces later in the season 
and the price of grain increases. The gain in dressing 
this poultry over shipping live weight was $8.66, allow- 
ing 16 18-53C per head for picking. 



Breeding Poultry and the Proper Breeds to Breed 

First. l)e sure that you have a standard of perfection 
and study well the characteristics of the particular breed 
or breeds which you prefer, selecting one of those which 
suits your fancy, for utility qualities, both in egg and 
5esh production. In selecting a breed for any man, the 
breed which appeals to him most will always give best 
results, for that is the breed which will receive the at- 
tention and proper care to give results. One of the main 
objects in breeding standard bred poultry is that when 
a man gets a fancy to standard bred poultry he will give 
it the care and attention that no man has ever been known 
to give a common old flock of mongrels. 

Secondly, if there is any surplus stock to be marketed 
there is always a market for it far above that of the mon- 



grel, giving him a great advantage there, saying noth- 
ing of the better results of the egg basket, and those ex- 
tra pounds of flesh with a less amount of feed, accounted 
for by the care and attention which your poultry has re- 
ceived. 

As to success with breeding poultry I should say 
that 90 per cent of success depended upon cleanliness 
alone. All poultry houses should be so constructed as 
to have plenty of sunlight and fresh air without drafts, 
therefore the open-front house is my preference, with- 
out being in too long sections, without partitions. A 
long open-front house without partitions will oftentimes 
have a draft through. I should never prefer a house 
more than 40 feet to a section between partitions. Damp- 
ness, lack of sunlight and fresh air in a house are the 
greatest inducements of vermin and disease. The house 
should be constructed so as to have sunlight both sum- 
mer and winter, with shady runs attached which the 
poultry should have access to during the summer months. 
For laying hens, excepting breeding pens. I have never 
found it profitable to have very large runs. In regard 
to using litter in your poultry houses. I ha\ e always 
had best results with a good deep layer of clean, dry 
sand. Have the houses thoroughly cleaned and disin- • 
fected by putting in sand, and have the sand in the 
houses long enough to be thoroughly dried out before 
putting in your pullets in the fall of the year. When 
housing my pullets I have always found it profitable to 
use a small pinch of potassium permanganate to each 
bucket of water to prevent colds or any other likely ail- 
ments which pullets at the age of maturity are very like- 
ly to contract, for at this age they are subject to most 
any disease of poultry, their susceptibility to disease be- 
ing greatest at this time. I have always found that the 
ounce of prevention beats any man's pound of cure. Nev- 
er house any pullets that show symptoms of weakness 
or improper development. The market is the best place 
for such, whether dressed or shipped in alive. Such 
poultry I would never advise any breeder to advertise 
and try to sell, as pullets, to some one who wants to keep 
over, if they consider their business worth anything in 
the future. " Should you wish to get a little more than 
market price out of them there are always plenty of 
places buying up such ])oultry and advertising cheap 
pullets for sale. Therefore the best thing to do with, 
those pullets is to coop them up and ship them in to one 



lOO 


lbs. 


lOO 


lbs. 


60 


lbs. 


100 


lbs. 


100 


lbs. 


100 


lbs. 


I 


lb. 



of these houses and let them allow you whatever they 
make. You will usually get more than the market price 
for broilers or roasting chickens. So it is not up to you 
whether they dress them ofif or how they sell them. 

Keep plenty of fresh, clean water before your poul- 
try at all times. Keep dry mash in hoppers in each com- 
partment of poultry houses, that the fowl may eat of it 
whenever they choose. They will never eat too much 
dry mash. Properly balanced, dry mash is also cheaper 
than grain, regardless of its necessity, therefore your 
poultry will not require so much of the more expensive 
foods. 

I get good results with a dry mash that I mix, for 
my fowl, consisting of the following: 

Wheat bran 

Fine middlings 

Ground oats 

Shredded wheat waste 

Gluton feed 

Beef scrap 

Salt 

Place all in a heap together and shovel over until thor- 
oughly mixed. 

Keep oyster shell, grit and charcoal before your poul- 
try at all times. 

Give plenty of green food, or vegetation to substi- 
tute, in winter time. 

Never give grass in long lengths to poultry, such as 
cut or pulled grass, as they have no means of breaking 
the grass, therefore it will be swallowed in long lengths, 
which often times get crosswise the passage from the 
crop, causing the bird to become crop-bound. 

Long grass seldom causes crop-binding to birds run- 
ning on range as there the grass is secure at one end, giv- 
ing the fowl a chance to break the grass off before swal- 
lowing. 

Give fresh ground bone at least once a week in win- 
ter time, when same may be obtained, all that they will 
eat up clean in about five minutes. Do not allow any to 
remain o\er any length of time, as so exposed it becomes 
unfit for poultry. 

When purchasing ground bone for poultry be sure 
that it is fresh and has not been heated. Green ground 
bone in any quantity will soon heat and start turning 
green, from which a number of diseases start. 



DISEASES AND PARASITES 

Parasites and diseases are invariably due to filth. 
Keep houses, litter, drop boards, nests, feed hopper and 
drinking fountains clean and disinfected so that para- 
sites and germs cannot exist. Should any birds become : 
sickly remove all sick birds, spray houses and nests with 
whitewash and some good disinfectant. 

CANKER. A cheese-like formation and sores around 
the mouth, frequently caused by birds fighting or getting 
their mouth hurt in some way. A sure preventive and 
a good cure : Swab mouth with equal parts of hydrogen 
peroxide and water. 

ULCERS. Occasionally found on head or throat. Kill 
and burn all birds aff^ected. 

GOING LIGHT. Caused by filthy conditions and di- 
arrhoea. Allow afifected birds their freedom and feed 
sparingly of dry, clean food. 

BUMBLE FOOT. Enlarged and inflamed ball of the 
foot. Caused by jumping onto hard floors from roosts 
that are too high. Wooden or concrete floors should nev- 
er be used in a hen house. Cure : Thoroughly clean the 
foot with warm water ; sterilize a sharp penknife by dip- 
ping it into a weak solution of carbolic acid, and then 
pierce the abscess. Work out all the matter and bathe 
foot with weak solution of carbolic acid in water. Wrap 
the foot up and keep the bird on clean, dry bedding until 
the wound heals. Do not breed from a male bird which 
has or has had Bumble Foot. 

CHICKEN POX. Symptoms: Light colored specks on 
the comb or face that grow rapidly into warts of various 
size ; dark brown in color. Cause : This disease is caused 
by a fungus growth. It is prevalent in damp, col-d 
weather and is very contagious. Cure : Color the water 
with permanganate of potash. The birds that have wartS 
should have the covering of each wart removed. The un- 
der parts that bleed should be cauterized with silver ni- 
trate or caustic potash. The knife used for scraping the 
warts should be sterilized after each operation. The 
combs, wattles and heads of all the birds in this flock 
should be rubbed with carbolated vaseline twice a week 

13 



until all sympt@nis of the disease disappear. I'ut one ta- 
blespoonfid of stdphur to eacH quart of dry mash or wet 
mash, as it may be. add a small amotmt of epsom salts 
in the drinking wajer once a week. This is one of the dis- 
eases that may be prevented by properly housing in the 
first place and by using a little potassium permanganate 
in the drinking water ; likewise is the disease to follow. 

COLDS. Symptom : Watery and swollen eyes ; or mu- 
cus from the nostrils. Cause : Drafts, dampness, crowd- 
ed quarters and becoming heated at night and getting 
out into the dew in the morning while so heated. Cure : 
Squeeze out nostril and wipe ofif well with clean cloth, add 
one drop of solution of potassium permanganate (light 
blood red in color) in each nostril and the slot in the 
roof of the mouth. Add a pinch of potassium perman- 
ganate to each bucket of drinking water which should 
be renewed three or four times a day. Consider well 
your housing conditions. 

CONSTIPATION. Symptoms: Ineffective and strenu- 
©us efforts to make a passage. Sluggish and listless ap- 
pearance ; lack of appetite. Cause : Unbalanced ration. 
Clotting of matter after diarrhoea and lack of green 
food. Cure : Remove any external obstruction, by first 
soaking with a little warm water. Give one tablespoon- 
ful of castor oil or epsom salts. Give plenty of green 
food, and be sure that your rations are properly bal- 
anced. 

EGG BOUND. Symptoms : The fowl returns frequent- 
ly to the nest and does not lay. Later the wings and tail 
begin to drop. Cause : Too much fatty foods in their 
ration, and insufficient exercise. Cure : Give the hen one 
tablespoonful of castor oil and inject sweet oil into the 
egg passage. Place the fowl, head toward you, with back 
on your knees, place the thumb on each side just for- 
ward of the egg and force the egg out, or as many fully 
developed eggs as may be accumulated there. Preven- 
tion : Well balanced ration and plenty of exercise. 

LEG WEAKNESS. Symptoms: Sitting down while 
eating, and staggering and limping while walking, and 
sometimes getting so that they cannot walk at all. Cause : 
Improper housing, hard floors, insufficient out-door ex- 

14 



ercise. ill balanced ration (chiefly lack of animal food). 
Cure : Plenty of green cut bone, well balanced rations 
and proper housing. 

GAPS. Symptoms : Gapping, wings drooping and 
seemingly trying to swallow. Cause: A worm-like par- 
asite that becomes attached to the lining of the wind 
pipe. This disease is most frequently among the chicks 
from four to five weeks old. It is very reducing to the 
vitality and oft times causes death. Cure : For affected 
birds, extract parasites. Take a hair from the tail or 
mane of a horse, form a loop in the center, dip the 
loop into turpentine ; holding chicken in one hand 
with mouth open, with the loop in the other hand 
extending three or four inches below the finger?, 
insert into the chick's mouth a short distance and 
twist loop around in your fingers ; take loop out and 
redip in the turpentine and repeat the same operation 
two or three times, going a little farther each time until 
you have reached the chick's crop. Put a very little tur- 
pentine or camphor in drinking water, and remove yard 
to fresh ground. As the ground has become affected it 
should he dug up and seeded, or well sterilized with air 
slacked lime. 

FROZEN COMBS. Do not thaw combs quickly. It is 
best to thaw them out by rubbing them lightly with 
snow. When beginning to thaw put on vaseline and rub 
gently. 

HEAD LICE. This greatly reduces the vitality and 
often causes death. Symptoms : Droopy and a bare ap- 
pearance on the head. Treatment : I^ust the chicks with 
some good lice powder, also mother hens if brooding by 
hens. Clean out coops and scrub with some good disin- 
fectant. 

RUPE . Symptoms : Peculiar and unpleasant odor issu- 
ing from nose and mouth. Lumps swollen on side of 
mouth or eye. Cause : Improper housing or care. The 
first case is always contracted from a cold, after which 
it may be transmitted to healthy fowl. Cure: The axe 
and a brush fire. Take out any affected birds that you 
may find. Disinfect premises, sterilize drinking foun- 
tains, and add a little potassium permanganate to the 
drinking water to kill any germs that may have been 

'5 



transmitted to the mouth of other fowl through the old 
drinking water. 

FEATHER EATING : Symptoms : Fowl plucking feath- 
ers from one another's back or body. Cause : Idleness, 
insufficient exercise, too close confinement, leaving feath- 
ers in yard during molting season, ill balanced rations, 
lack of animal matter. Cure : Remedy or remove the 
cause. 

SOFT SHELLED ECxGS. Caused either ])y lack of shell- 
forming ingredients in the food or by over fat condition. 
Preventive : Plenty of oyster shell and exercise. 

WHITE DIARRHOEA. Cause : This disease is caused 
by a germ. Chicks weakened by chills and improper 
feeding, such as a wet feed for chicks under five weeks 
of age. It is both hereditary and contagious. Also it 
is often caused by musty feed, too much fresh meat or 
green ground bone. Foods being left over from one meal 
to another and becoming sour in the coops or runs as the 
custom of feeding may be. Cure : Change of ration. Be 
sure that housing conditions are proper. Give sour milk 
either skimmed or butter milk. The lactic acid helps to 
kill the germs. Prevention : Never use for hatching pur- 
poses an egg that has become spoiled in the least. Nev- 
er use fowl in breeding pens which have been infected 
with white diarrhoea as baby chicks. Use for breeding 
purpose the most vigorous only. Avoid birds that ma- 
ture slowly ; they are for market pur])ose only, as they 
yield only a small egg production and hatch out chicks 
that are subject to disease and a weak constitution, mak- 
ing them slow to develop and never profitable. Proper 
housing of baby chicks also has a great deal to do with 
white diarrhoea. Plenty of fresh air, sunlight and no 
drafts, with shade accessible, as you will see in proper 
brooding. 



i6 




Figure 5. 




Figure 6. 



Proper Brooding and Care of Baby Chicks 



Brooding with Hen. 

Coops should be of three sides tight, half open front, 
preferably a small opening in each side of front open 
from top to bottom. One side may be screened up while 
the other may have a door to close at night or on stormy 
days. There should be a solid portable floor, about two 
inches from bottom of coop that may be taken out and 
scraped and scrubbed with a disinfectant, with a small 
portable yard attached to each coop. Put slats across 
the unwired door to prevent fowl coming out in yard, 
but sufficiently wide apart to allow the younger chickens 
access to the run or coop until they are large enough for 
the mother hen to be taken away, after which the slats 
may be removed. Before taking the mother hen away 
from the chicks the portable yard around the coop may 
be removed, allowing the entire range of the poultry yard 
to the chicks. The mother hen should be kept in all the 
time until l^eing taken away from the chicks, which 
should be done as soon as the chicks are large enough to 
be comfortable without her. Consider the season of the 
year as to size of chicks before weening them . 

Feeding Baby Chicks. 

Do not feed until from twenty-four to forty-eight 
hours old. For first feed give hard boiled eggs, boiled 
about six hours. Mash up in dish, sprinkle over about 
20 per cent of clean fine grit and crumble all well to- 
gether. Feed and fresh water for the first time, after 
which for the first two weeks they should be fed from 
five to six times a day lightly with a good commercial 
chick feed or scratch feed, just what they will clean up 
readily. Should any food stufif be left over it becomes 
trampled and undesirable, causing a loss of appetite and 
oft times bowel trouble. Dry mash should be kept be- 
fore them at all times. There are a lot of dry mashes 
and growing feeds prepared by different poultry food 
supply houses which give good results, although there 
are others which I could not recommend and especially 
in dry mashes, as there is liable to be any amount of im- 
pure food in the mash without one being able to detect 
it very readily. I have good results with the following 
mixed feed : — 

17 



Bran lOO lbs. 

Fine middlings loo lbs.' 

Sifted ground oats 50 lbs. 

• Gluton meal 100 lbs. 

Shredded wheat waste 100 lbs. 

Chic chuk 23 lbs. 

Mix thoroughly until you can see no streaks or spots 
of any one kind of feed. Keep charcoal and grit before 
them at all times, and plenty of fresh, clean water and 
sour milk if available. 

For those not acquainted with CHIC CHUK I may 
mention that it is prepared ground fish and I have al- 
ways found it to be fresh and odorless and pure. I use 
CHIC CHUK in preference to beef scrap to get a desir- 
able concentrated animal food for at times it is difficult 
for me to get a desirable beef scrap, therefore I feel more 
safe in using CHIC CHUK. 

For Brooding by Artificial Heat. 

The method of brooding with artificial brooders 
would depend entirely upon the particular brooder 
which you are using. Makers of brooders always sup- 
ply a pamphlet with each sale with instructions as to 
the use of that make of brooder. The writer has found 
that a great preventive of white diarrhoea and leg weak-, 
ness is using a mat directly under the brooder, such as 
sewing two thicknesses of l)urlap together to hold com- 
pact and to keep the chicks from crawling between the 
layers. Spread same under brooder and cover lightly 
with sand. This prevents the chicks from scratching 
the sand or litter away and getting on the bare floor, 
which is oft times cold or chilly and causes bowel trou- 
ble and leg weakness. By having a few extra mats of 
this kind they can be frequently changed by taking out 
the first mat and dusting off. Dip in a bucket of disin- 
fectant, hang up to dry, and then it is ready for use in 
the next cleaning. Also give sanitary sleeping quarters 
at all times. Do not be afraid of your little chicks get- 
ting into the snow in the early spring. Have your run 
so that they can get on the ground when two weeks old 
and no later. Keep them confined only when rain or 
snow is falling. Should there be snow on the ground 
shovel a space off as best you can ; what little is left will 
not hurt them. Young chicks are obliged to have out- 
door exercise in order to thrive. 

.18 



NOTICE. 

After demonstration I answer all questions that the 
audience wishes to ask. There are always questions 
asked as to the best firms to deal with in the various 
branches of the poultry business. 

All the advertisers in this book are people with 
whom 1 am personally acquainted, either through busi- 
ness transactions in the past, or having been in their em- 
ploy. 

I have permitted only such advertisers in this book 
as I would gladly and safely recommend when such ques- 
tions are asked at my demonstrations. 

C. C. SMITH. 



I cooperate with Advertisers and Patrons of this book 
and am glad to give any assistance which I may be able 
to give. Therefore it is always advisable in all transac- 
hons to mention this book — C. C. Smith's Book on Poul- 
try. 



19 



The Pet Stock and Feed Store 
of New England 

Everything in Poultry Supplies ! 

AGENTS POR 

Burpee's Seeds That Grow. 

Shrubs, Trees and Eulbs in Their Season. 

We will take your products in exchange for sup- 
plies, seeds and livestock, paying top market 
prices, and a premium for extra quality, and give 
you wholesale price on anything in our line. 

We can use strictly fresh eggs at any time and 
allow the top quotation. 

We buy pure bred pullets and laying hens at any 
time and can offer attractive prices. 

We issue weekly quotations and would like your 
name on our list. 



We refer you to Dun and Bradstreet and the United 
States Trust Company, Boston, Mass., and ask you to re- 
member 



The Pel Stock and Feed Store ot New England 

At the Park & Pollard Co. old stand. 

N. Hamilton Putnam, Pkesidknt. 

46 Canal St., Boston 139 Friend St 




Figure 7. 



Figure 8. 




Figure 9. 



Figure 10. 



J. p. I<AVVRENCE. 



G. A. Mann, 



A. A. Tapley 



H. L. LAWRENCE CO. 

KSTABIJSHED 1S44 

POULTRY AND PROVISIONS 

46-48 Faneuil Hall Market 

Boston, Mass. 




Dark Cornish 




White Plymouth Rock 



C. C. SMITH 

Poultry Demonstrator and Breeder of Pure 
Pred Poultry^ Bred to Standard. 

Speeialist on Dark Cornish, White Plymouth Rocks and Wh'te Japanese Silkies 
Satisfaction Guaranteed. WILTON, N. H. 




Poultry Success 



is largely a matter of proper 
feeding. If you want plenty 
of eggs; healthy birds; and fat 
fowl, we recommend 

CHIC^CHUK 

"TOg IDEAL CONCENl-RAXEJ? 
POUITKY FOOD 

Contains 50'7f Protein and 30% Bone, 
supplying the mineral foods for the 
nervous system, tissues and rich egg 
yolks, and lime for the egg shell and 
bony frame. Fed with dry or moist 
mashes it adds a greater food value, 
pound for pound, for your money 
than any poultry food you can buy. 
We sell CHIC-CHUK and heartily 
recommend it. 

FOR SAI.E BY AI^I^ I'lRSTCI^ASS 
DEALERS. 



SOLICITED 

Shipments of All Kinds of Farm Products 



CATERER 



To Hotels, Clubs and Restaurants. 

All kinds of Meat, Poultry and Game always 

ready for delivery. 



W. J. SPINNEY 



29-33 Faneuil Hall Square, 



Boston, Massachu etls 




ESTABLISHED 1897 

A. Clifford & Co. 

1 1 Essex Ave., Boston, IVIass. 

IlEFERKNCKS 

BraistretVs. Dim.-'. Fruit and Prmluce Kirhanirr 'Fiilelilii Trii.st Cfrnpanp 

Medftird Trust Ciiiii/iiiiiy. JVatioiial Leairnr of Commission Sifrchmnts. 

LIVE 
POULTRY 

OLD HENS 

YOUNG CHIX 

BROILERS 

in big demand and will be until 
Thanksgiving. 

Best selling days are Monday, Titesday and Wednesday. Nev- 
er ship Friday to arrive Saturday. All poultry weighed immedi- 
ately on arrival. Returns made daily. Mail invoices and use our 
shipping cards, furnished on request. 

Do not overcrowd coops in hot weather. 

Savage*s Pigeon Exchange and Poultry Supply Company 

Wholesale and Retail Dealers in 

Savage's Celebrated Poultry Feeds 

Poultry and Pigeon Supplies 

Fancy Poultry and Pig^eon? 

For Breeding' Purposes 

Eggs for Hatching in Season 

A. K. WORCESTER, Proprietor. 

67 North Market St., Boston, Massachusetts 

Fp Biie flipfht. Televihone connecti»H 

FEATHERS 

We pay cash for all kinds of feathers; Colored fowl, white ©r 
•elored duck, white fowl, white or colored geese. 



GEORGE WILLCOMB COMPANY, 

Chardon St., Boston, Mass. 



23 



SHIP YOUR 
POULTRY ALIVE ! 



^TT We want your shipments of Fowl, Broil - 
Ji ers, Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Turkeys, 
Roosters and strictly Fresh Eggs. Pullets a 
specialty. You will net more through the 
season than shipping dressed. We pay the 
highest pi ices possible and make prompt re- 
returns. No commission charged. W^e fur- 
nish you with weekly quotations, shipping 
tags, etc. Agents for the vStandard Poultry 
Coops. Give us a trial on your next con- 
signment. 

Boston Live Poultry Co* 

E. E. Wentworth, Mgr* 

77-79-8J-83 Folton St., Boston, Mass 



24 



LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 

illlliiliiiilllllillllllllPllilllli 



002 851 145 



